What happens if my horse is a non-runner?

Sometimes in horse racing, you get a little bit unlucky and the horse you have backed gets declared a non-runner.

For those that don’t know, a non-runner exactly what is says it is. The horse that was running in the race, isn’t anymore.

Now, if you’ve placed your bet in an ante-post market – which is before the final declarations have been made – you won’t be getting any money back unfortunately. For an explanation on ante-post betting, please click here.

However, if you have bet on a horse after the final declarations have been made (usually around 24 hours before the race) your bookmakers will refund your money as there’s nothing you can do about it and you shouldn’t lose out for the horse picking up an injury or not liking the ground. These are just a couple of examples for a horse being declared a non-runner, there are a lot of reasons why trainers might want to race their charge.

Sometimes, the horse just simply won’t go into the stalls and the stall-handers decide that there’s no way they are going to get them to race.

Although it’s extremely annoying when you back a non-runner, it is nice to know you won’t lost any money as long as you’re betting after those declarations have been made.

If there are other non-runners in the race, but your horse is still in contention, then Rule 4 comes into play and if you’re not sure what that is, again, just click here and all will be explained for you.

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